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ACC QUESTION of the WEEK : How did Pittsburgh and Georgia Tech turn their seasons around?
The Panthers and Yellow Jackets won’t win nine regular-season games, but they nevertheless have managed to dramatically change their fortunes and prospects. That’s not an easy thing to do, and the coaches and players at both programs deserve credit for what they have achieved. Taking hold of a ship which seems destined to hit the rocks, and then guiding it to safety in a highly stressful situation, is no small thing… especially for Pittsburgh, which has half a foot inside the door of a first Coastal Division championship and a maiden appearance in the ACC Championship Game.
Let’s look at Georgia Tech first and then go to the likely Coastal champion in 2018:
Georgia Tech lives on the edge. Paul Johnson has lived the experience. Fans expect a roller-coaster ride. It is part of the reality of competing at Georgia Tech, whose style of play leads to a different recruiting philosophy and alters the dynamics of playing in the Coastal Division.
When you emphasize controlling the ball, avoiding mistakes, and not having to pass the ball any more than necessary, the margins are necessarily smaller. Individual mistakes which short-circuit plays or surrender possessions are more costly. Falling behind by 10 or 13 points is a more severe situation, given the comparative inability to pass the ball. Georgia Tech lives on a ledge more than many of its opponents. The Jackets simply can’t make mistakes in important moments.
That’s what they did when they struggled in the first half of this season.
At South Florida and against Pittsburgh, they couldn’t get out of their own way. Duke and David Cutcliffe continued their mastery of Georgia Tech.
Forget about beating Clemson — Tech was never going to do that. The games against USF and Pitt truly slipped away from this team. Georgia Tech had to live on the right side of small margins.
Against Virginia Tech and especially this past Saturday against Miami, the Jackets have done exactly that.
They killed the clock on a long, late drive. They didn’t fumble. They didn’t slip off the beam. They didn’t suffer the devastating, brief lapse which has so often sabotaged their efforts. Big changes have come from small margins for Paul Johnson.
Now, to Pitt, which is close to creating a third first-time ACC Championship Game participant in the last four seasons (North Carolina in 2015, Miami in 2017):
Pitt’s season changed when the offensive line took ownership of it.
The moment of truth for the Panthers this season came in their sixth game. They were 2-3 and facing a Syracuse team which had almost upset Clemson in Death Valley the week before. Syracuse jumped to a 14-0 lead and seemed to have the Panthers on the ropes.
Running backs Qadree Ollison and Darrin Hall insisted that their season was not going to go down the tubes.
Pittsburgh climbed back from that 14-0 deficit. The Panthers fell behind 34-27. They trailed 37-34 near the end of regulation. They came back each time. On the tying drive at the very end of the fourth quarter, Pitt ran the ball 11 times in 13 plays. Give the rock to Ollison and Hall, and let them run free behind an offensive line entrusted with an enormous responsibility.
Pittsburgh was dominated by both Penn State and UCF, mustering a total of 20 points in those two games combined. Pitt was not even competitive. The offense’s transformation — with the O-line being the engine of that transformation — won the Syracuse game which totally changed the complexion of the year for Pat Narduzzi.
What could have been a 2-4 record and 1-2 in the ACC turned into 3-3, 2-1. Moreover, Pitt realized it could win close games, which bore fruit in subsequent wins over Duke and Virginia. Pittsburgh has scored 44 points or more three times in its past four ACC games.
In this year’s Coastal, that resurgence has masked the Panthers’ lingering deficiencies on defense. It has them on the doorstep of a significant achievement and a chance for Narduzzi to breathe a little easier in the Steel City.
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